Seeing the Death of your own father can be horrific, especially when he was all you had left... Yamamoto goes into shock and falls into a coma, and the only way he can be pulled from the depths of his mind is by their Mist Guardian, Mukuro Rokudo. {6980}

Everything was going fine that day - Yamamoto got a surprisingly good score on his math test, won the practice match they had with another school, and even went out to celebrate with his friends, Tsuna and Gokudera.

The tall teenager stopped in front of his old man's sushi shop, turning to wave to his friends. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Yamamoto smiled, watching Tsuna and Gokudera wave before they continued on their way home.

It all went wrong when the moment Yamamoto walked through the doors of Takesushi, he sees a man, dressed in black, holding a gun to his father's head. "Dad..." Yamamoto whispered, eyes widening.

"Yamamoto Takeshi; Vongola's Rain Guardian?" Yamamoto's grip on his school bag tightened, taking a step closer, eyes glued to the gun pointed to his father's head.

"Dad-"

"Takeshi, go!" Tsuyoshi hissed, waving for his son to leave. Yamamoto shook his head, breathe hitching. "I'll be fine!"

"No, I-"

"Takeshi!"The man in the black attire took the few steps closer to Yamamoto that was needed, raising his gun as he did so. "Goodbye, Rain Guardian."

From then on, it became a blur. A blur of Yamamoto's father, the man wearing black clothing, the gun, and the trigger being pulled, the loud crack in the air as it was fired...

Once his vision stopped swimming, Yamamoto shook his head lightly, touching his forehead groggily. A familiar body lay on the floor, and that was the moment when his blood ran cold. "D- Dad...?" His shaky voice was almost silent, as he fell to his knees. "DAD!"

A slick, warm, wet feeling caused Yamamoto to look down, seeing a thick red substance covering them. He heard a gun click, and he nearly forgot about the man who was looking for him. "You... You killed my dad..." The words felt foreign on his tongue.

The man smirked, looking at the blood that stained the teenager's hands. "Yes, I suppose he did. But, it wasn't my fault that he got in the way... thought he could be a hero, but it didn't work out so well. Did it?"

"He is a Hero..."

"'Was', you mean. Anyway, today is the day you die, Yamamoto Takeshi." Those words pulled the teen's attention back to the gun that was poised in the middle of his forehead. "After you, I'll go see about taking care of your little friends." The man smirked, finger about to press the trigger. Thankfully, the only thing that happened to stop him from pulling the trigger was the sound of the doors slamming open.

"Yamamoto!" The baseball player heard Tsuna shout, the frenzied tone practically ripping him from his stupor - causing him to duck into action. Yamamoto grabbed the knife from his father's grasp, ignoring the slick coat of blood that covered the handle and as swiftly as he could, he stabbed his father's killer.

Yamamoto found himself wondering how easy it was - to just stab someone like that - before he collapsed on the ground. He could vaguely hear Gokudera swear loudly, and Tsuna's shaky voice as he talked to someone on the phone.

"H- He's going into shock..!" Was the last thing Yamamoto heard before the world went black.

OoOoO

'Where am I...?'

'What happened...?'

'Why can't I remember what happened...?' Yamamoto looked down to his hands, the same blood still staining is fingers and palms. "..." He pulled his sickened gaze away, staring into the seemingly endless eternal darkness that surrounded him.

"Daddy! Look what mommy got me!"

Yamamoto turned hastily, recognizing that childish voice.

"That's great, Takeshi!"

"Dad..."

OoOoO

"Reborn, I-... I don't know what we should do..." The brown haired Boss-to-be murmured, eyes glued to the hospital room that their friend was currently placed in. Tsuna heard footsteps and tore his eyes away to find Gokudera holding a cup out to him. "It's tea, Juudaime." The silverette said.

Tsuna shook his head. "Thanks, Gokudera-kun, but I'm not thirsty..." Gokudera nodded solemnly, turning to give Reborn his cup of espresso. "Reborn-" Tsuna tried again, but fell silent when Reborn gave him a look.

"I'm thinking, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn snapped, his small fingers gripping the hot cup in his tiny hands. "Chrome. We need Chrome." The Hitman stated. Gokudera and Tsuna shared a look of confusion.

"Reborn-san-" Gokudera paused, before nodding slowly. "Okay. I'll go get her. You can stay here, Juudaime. Make sure the yakyuu-baka doesn't.." The right hand cut himself off, offering Tsuna a small smile, before turning and running for the nearest exit.

A few minutes passed, before Tsuna heaved a sigh. "Do you think that Yamamoto will be okay, Reborn?"

"He's Yamamoto." Reborn smirked, lightly punching his student for asking such a question.

"Yeah... But, what do you need Chrome for?" The teenager gave his tutor a quizzical and worried look. Reborn's smirked dropped, turning into a thin line.

"It's not Chrome that we need."

OoOoO

After the voices passed, the darkness settled in once again. The voices changed from time to time, ranging from his, to his father's, mother's and then suddenly to Tsuna's voice, then Gokudera's, the kids,... Everyone's. Yamamoto wondered if he was going crazy or something. He couldn't see or find anything, apart from the darkness that surrounded him.

The baseball player sighed as he continued on forward. He glanced around the pitch black area, used to the darkness by now. He felt as if he should be finding a way out, wherever he was...

'Tired...' Yamamoto thought, yawning as he stretched. 'Maybe I should sleep...' An unsettling feeling churned in the pits of his stomach, causing him to change his mind once more. "Ahaha... Guess not." He mumbled.

"Kufufu.."

"Eh?" Yamamoto blinked, looking around quickly. "Is this just another voice I'm hearing...?" It sounded like it, but a feeling in his gut kept him far from the assumption.

"Oya, oya... What do we have here...? Yamamoto Takeshi's mind in shambles..."

"Ahaha... shambles?" He couldn't help but laugh, because of how ridiculous it sounded. How would his mind fall into shambled, anyways?

"I can answer that for you... If you want to take the risk, that is." A thin stream of light appeared from dark, causing the baseball player to move closer to the source. What happened next was something he hadn't expected - from the light, formed a body.

Yamamoto raised his eyebrow, before bursting out into laughter. "Ahahaha! I'm sure you aren't that bad! Don't be so hard on yourself!"

"Kufufu. Words from a broken boy."

"Hm?"

"Yamamoto Takeshi, do you know where we are?"

"No... But I've been wondering that."

"We're inside your head. Stuck; in this shattered paradise."

"My head? What do you mean?" Yamamoto frowned, taking a step away from the mist guardian. The same eerie feeling flooded back into his veins, his blood running cold instantly.

"You're in a coma, Yamamoto Takeshi. You killed a man in cold blood, because he killed your father. Your little friends came to your rescue, but you fell into shock, mind breaking as it tried to repair itself.. A shame, really."

"That's a lie..."

"It isn't. I can take you to the memory if its proof you want. It's burned into your memories somewhere; we just need to find it."

"No."

"Scared?"

"..."

Mukuro smirked knowingly, taking a few steps closer to the broken rain guardian, "Don't you want to return to your friends? Your life? Didn't you make a promise to the famiglia?" The mist ring holder's smirk turned into a grin, finding what he was looking for in the tanned teen's eyes. "Or, would you prefer to stay here? Trapped and forced to listen to the ghosts of your past forever, rather than be happy and have a life?"

"Wh-... What do I have to do?" Yamamoto asked, swallowing the lump that formed in his throat.

"Let me in."

OoOoO

Chrome bit her lip, her fingers gripping her trident. "Okay..." She murmured, giving a little nod as she opened her eyes slowly. "Mukuro-sama can get in."

Gokudera turned from the female, staring down at Reborn who was seated near the or, beside a worried looking Tsuna. "Are you sure this is going to work, Reborn-san?"

"We've gotten this far."

Gokudera nodded, looking back to Chrome. Her gaze slide from him to Tsuna, then to Reborn, who gave her a nod. She gave a small, reassuring smile before taking a deep breath. "Go, Mukuro-sama." She whispered, using the tip of her trident to cut the flesh on Yamamoto's wrist. A thin line of blood formed, dripping slowly from his wrist onto the white sheets of the hospital bed.

OoOoO

The scenery changed almost immediately, the realm of darkness shattering before appearing to be rebuilt. Yamamoto watched in amazement as glass shards began to form bigger pieces of glass, a dull light reflecting off of them. They seemed to float, as if there was no gravity.

"What is this...?" Yamamoto asked, breathlessly.

"Memories." Mukuro replied, watching in minor interest as images began to form on the large shards. The images started moving, as if it was playing a movie. "Your memories. The good, the bad, everything. This can take a while, but we have to start from the beginning and work our way to your latest memory."

"What if it's too painful?" Yamamoto asked in a hushed whisper.

Mukuro gave him a calculating stare, "I'll be here."

OoOoO

I was going to make this a one shot... But, meh. I felt this was a more awesome ending. xD 'Dunno when I'll have the next chapter up, though... Hopefully soon~!

And also, this is like a collaboration story I talked about with my best friend, but I felt the need to write it and post it and share it with the World. :3

~WinterAssassin~

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.